Svitlana Biedarieva

Selected panel discussions, lectures & symposia

For the full list of lectures and talks: See here

Book talk “Art in Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance.” Shevchenko Scientific Society, New York. 29 March 2025

Book talk “Art in Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance.” Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. 1 April 2025

Book talk “Art in Ukraine Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance.” Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York. 27 March 2025

“What Art Makes of War: Perspectives on and from Ukraine,” London School of Economics and Political Science, 15 June 2023

Lecture “Decolonizing Ukrainian Culture: The Role of Art Institutions in a Time of War,” IERES, George Washington University, 12 May 2023

Lecture “Ukrainian Wartime Art: A Decolonial Perspective.” Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 9 May 2023.

Panel discussion Decolonization: Why Does It Matter? Decolonization in Focus Series. Panel I, CREEES at the University of Pittsburgh and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, 3 February 2023.

Lecture Ukraine’s New Art in a Time of War: Dismantling the Colonial Narrative, University of Hamburg, 19 January 2023.

Panel discussion “post presents: Art, Resistance, and New Narratives in
Response to the War in Ukraine“, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, 12 October 2022.

16 March 2022: Political Emancipation of Artistic Practices in Ukraine. Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art and Kumu Museum in Tallinn. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Olha Mykhailiuk, Lada Nakonechna, Nikolai Karabinovich, Kateryna Botanova, Lia Dostlieva, and Andrii Dostliev. Moderated by Ieva Astahovska.

7 March 2022. Contemporary Ukrainian and Baltic Art. Political and Social Perspectives. Book Launch at Central European University, History Department. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Olena Martynyuk, Vytautas Michelkevičius, and Lina Michelkevičė. Discussant: Alisa Lozhkina. Moderated by Marsha Siefert.

30 Sep 2020: “Art-Wednesday: Front Line”, IZOLYATSIA Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv. Participants: Kristina Norman, Ivette Locker, Svitlana Biedarieva, and Hanna Deikun. Moderated by Mykhailo Glubokyi.

LECTURES AND CONFERENCE PAPERS

Neocolonialism, Memory, and Resistance: Ukrainian Culture under Attack, Paper, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Washington, D.C., United States (forthcoming Dec. 2025).

Identity and Protest in Ukrainian Contemporary Art, Paper, Symposium “Protest and Dissent: Cultural and Political Resistance in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine,” University of Pittsburgh, United States (21 Apr. 2025).

Resistance and Decoloniality in Ukrainian Contemporary Art, Lecture, University of California, Santa Barbara (11 Apr. 2025).

Ukraine and Decolonial Thought, Lecture, Bard College, New York, United States (13 Mar. 2025).

Ambicoloniality and the Decolonization of Ukrainian Culture, Paper, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Boston, United States (22 Nov. 2024)

Nation-Building and Identity Construction in Post-Soviet Ukraine, Lecture, New York University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (6 Nov. 2024).

Tracing Avant-Garde Legacies in Contemporary Ukrainian Painting: Oleksandr Roytburd, Vlada Ralko, and Tiberiy Szilvashi, Paper, Conference “Modernism in Ukraine: Local Contexts, Intercultural Encounters, International Exchanges,” Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, United Kingdom (4 Oct. 2024).

War Documentation and Anti-Colonial Resistance in Contemporary Ukrainian Art, Lecture, Danish Cultural Institute in Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia (1 Oct. 2024).

Decoloniality in Ukrainian Wartime Art, Lecture, Bard College, New York, United States (5 Dec. 2023).

Eclipsed History: Russia’s Appropriation of Ukrainian Art, Lecture, Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland (20 Nov. 2023).

Ukrainian Art and the War: Postcolonial Perspectives, Decolonial Options, and New Approaches, Paper, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Philadelphia, United States (20 Oct. 2023).

Ambicoloniality and War: The Ukrainian-Russian Case, Paper, Danyliw International Seminar, University of Ottawa, Canada (28 Sep. 2023).

Decolonizing Ukrainian Culture: The Role of Art Institutions in a Time of War, Lecture, Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasia Studies, George Washington University, Washington D.C. United States (11 May 2023).

From Postcolonialism to Decolonization: Ukraine’s Reimagining of East European Art History, Paper, Petrach Conference, Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasia Studies, George Washington University, United States (5 May 2023).

Ukrainian Wartime Art: A Decolonial Perspective, Lecture, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C., United States (9 May 2023).

Cultural Institutions in a Time of War, Paper, Kennan Scholar Seminar, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington D.C., United States (3 May 2023).

Ukraine’s Wartime Art: Postcoloniality/Decoloniality in Focus, Symposium “War in the Present Time. Architecture and Visual Arts”, École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris– Belleville, Paris, France (15 Mar. 2023).

Documentation and Decoloniality in Ukraine’s Wartime Art, Lecture, University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States (21 Feb. 2023).

Ukraine’s New Art in a Time of War: Dismantling the Colonial Narrative, Lecture, “On Art and Resistance in Ukraine” Event Series, University of Hamburg, Germany (19 Jan. 2023).

Women’s History as History of Dispossession in Ukrainian Art, Paper, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Chicago, United States (16 Nov. 2022).

Documentary Practices and Decoloniality in Ukrainian Art, Paper, Symposium “Art, Resistance, and New Narratives in Response to the War in Ukraine,” Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, United States (12 Oct. 2022).

Decolonial Strategies in New Ukrainian Art, Paper, Symposium “The Collective Body Dismembered,” Copenhagen University and National Art Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark (31 May 2022).

Reading Workshop: Decolonization Narratives in the Context of Ukraine, Lecture, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga, Latvia, and Kumu Museum in Tallinn, Estonia (24 Mar. 2022).

The Documentary Turn in New Ukrainian Art, Paper, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, New Orleans, United States (20 Nov. 2021).

The Face of The Conflict: Ukrainian Artists on the Frontline, Paper, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Washington, D.C., United States (6 Nov. 2020).

Mexico City´s Exhibition Spaces in the 1968 Cultural Olympiad: Showcasing Art in the Expanding City, Paper, LASA2019 Congress, Latin American Studies Association, Boston, United States (24 May 2019).

Art and Power in 1970s Mexico, Paper, International Symposium “Beyond 1968. Political History of Mexico in the 1970s ̶ 1980s,” El Colegio de México, Mexico City, Mexico (23 Oct. 2018).

The Salón Independiente 1968: The Making of the Independent Art Scene in Mexico, Lecture, Ibero-American University, Mexico City, Mexico (3 Mar. 2018).

Art, Power, and Cultural Exchange in Latin America, Lecture, Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Puebla, Mexico (9 Oct. 2016).

Performance/Performativity in Ukrainian Art: From the Maidan to the Biennale, Paper, “Platform Ukraine” Conference, SSEES, University College London, University of London, United Kingdom (17 June 2015).

The 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico: Art, Sport, and Massacre, Paper, Conference “Power and Change in the Americas in the Modern Era,” Institute of the Americas, University College London, University of London, United Kingdom (1 May 2015).

Seven Plus Infinity: Ukrainian Art from Avant-garde to Underground, Paper, Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom (9 Apr. 2015).

“Quetzalcóatl Doing the Op Art Twist”: 1968 and the Branding of Mexican Modernity, Paper, “Branding Latin America” Conference, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (8 Apr. 2015).

Going Outside the Cactus Curtain: from Muralism to La Ruptura, Paper, Research Forum Modern and Contemporary Seminar, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom (9 Mar. 2015).

Body and the State, Paper, Symposium “From Stalin to Sochi,” Calvert 22 Gallery, London, United Kingdom (8 May 2014).

Challenging the Urban Legacies of the Olympics: Mexico City 1968–1994 and the USSR 1980–1991, Paper, Society for Latin American Studies Conference, Birkbeck, University of London (6 Apr. 2014).

SELECTED PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Book Discussion: Ambicoloniality and War: The Ukrainian-Russian Case, by Svitlana Biedarieva, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Washington, D.C., United States. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Vitaly Chernetsky, Oksana Dovgopolova, and Oksana Lutsyshyna. Chair: George Grabowicz (forthcoming, Dec. 2025).

Towards Liberation: Practicing Decoloniality in Museum Spaces, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Annual Convention, Boston, United States. Roundtable co-organized with the Ukrainian Institute and ICOM UK. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Volodymyr Sheiko, Tamara Hundorova, and Maria Blyzinski. Moderated by Oleh Kotsyuba. (27 Nov. 2024)

Mexico’s Foreign Policy: Future Opportunities and Challenges, Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. Participants: Brenda Estefan, Arturo Sarukhán, Svitlana Biedarieva, and Nathan Wolf. Moderated by Lila Abad (25 Apr. 2024).

Ukraine’s Global Identity: Eurocentric and Decolonial, Kennan Institute and Global Ukraine Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. Participants: Volodymyr Sheiko, Andrii Portnov, Svitlana Biedarieva, Moderated by William Pomeranz (11 Apr. 2024).

Decolonial Museum Guide Workshop Series, Ukrainian Institute and ICOM UK. Participants: Tamara Hundorova, Olena Chervonik, Pavlo Goldin, and Oleh Ilnitzky. Moderated by Svitlana Biedarieva (21 Feb. 2024).

What Art Makes of War. Perspectives On and From the War in Ukraine, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom. Participants Svitlana Biedarieva, Olha Pryymak, and Rachel Kerr. Moderated by Denisa Kostovicova (8 June 2023).

Also Postcolonial, AICA International and AICA Slovakia, Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Rado Ištok, Karolina Kolenda, and Katalin Timár. Moderated by Mária Hlavajová (19 April 2023).

Ukrainathon, Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and PONARS Eurasia, George Washington University and the Kyiv School of Economics, Washington D.C., United States, and Kyiv, Ukraine (24 Feb. 2023).

Decolonization: Why Does It Matter? “Decolonization in Focus” Event Series, CREEES at the University of Pittsburgh and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Marina Mogilner, Epp Annus, Moderated by Tamar Shirinian (3 Feb. 2023).

Exhibition Histories and the Roles of Documentation: Writing Ukrainian Art History from Scratch, Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Olga Balashova, and Lizaveta German. Moderated by Margaret Tali (22 Jan. 2023).

Regeneration and Decolonial Transformation: Ukraine’s Nature, Built Environment, and Art during Wartime, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga, Latvia. Participants: Alevtina Kakhidze, Darya Tsymbalyuk, and Svitlana Matviyenko. Moderated by Svitlana Biedarieva (12 Jan. 2023).

Political Emancipation of Artistic Practices in Ukraine, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in Riga, Latvia, and Kumu Museum in Tallinn, Estonia. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Olia Mykhailiuk, Lada Nakonechna, Nikolai Karabinovich, Kateryna Botanova, Lia Dostlieva, and Andrii Dostliev. Moderated by Ieva Astahovska (16 Mar. 2022).

Uprootedness and Hybridity: Exploring Intergenerational Trauma in Latin America through Art and Anthropology, Counterpoint Arts London, United Kingdom. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Jessica P. Cerdeña, Tiara Roxanne, and Eliana Sola Bussas. Moderated by Monika Dorniak (14 Oct. 2021).

Frontline Art, 2014-2019, Ukrainian Institute London, United Kingdom. Participants: Svitlana Biedarieva, Roman Minin, and Hanna Deikun. Moderated by Myroslav Shkandrij (30 Oct. 2020).

Art-Wednesday: Front Line, IZOLYATSIA Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv, Ukraine. Participants: Kristina Norman, Ivette Locker, Svitlana Biedarieva, and Hanna Deikun. Moderated by Mykhailo Glubokyi (30 Sep. 2020).

Art on the Front Line, “Oseredok” Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, Winnipeg, Canada. Participants: Yevgenia Belorusets, Jessica Zychowicz, and Piotr Armianovski. Moderated by Svitlana Biedarieva and Hanna Deikun (27 Aug. 2020).